Mani's: Temple of food

Mani's namesake founder, V.S. Mani Iyer, was a young man when he arrived in Mumbai in the 1930s from Tamil Nadu in southern India. 

All he knew was how to cook. 

More than 70 years later, his hard work lives on with three small vegetarian restaurants that draw hordes of fans hungry for home-style Tamil cuisine.

The original Mani's near Ruia College in Matunga is a blink-and-miss place, familiar to those who live in the area and unforgettable to those who have visited even once. Typically filled with early morning walkers, it offers the best Tamil snacks -- steaming idlies (rice cakes) with coconut chatni (spicy, ground paste), wadas (donut-like deep-fried lentil) soaked in tangy sambar (a thick, pungent lentil curry) and paper-thin crisp dosas (rice pancake). 

Mani's second location, near Matunga market, serves full meals, including a set lunch for Rs. 30 for a fixed amount and Rs. 60 for all-you-can-eat. And over eat you will. I wear drawstring pants when I go.

Tables are shared and there are no reservations, but the meal moves along quickly from vegetables and rice to soup and bread.  Top it with buttermilk, a cup of yogurt -- a must in a South Indian meal -- and a Mani's lunch is over in a matter of minutes.

Might take you a lot longer to waddle on over to your next point of call. But here's the good news. South Indian food is lighter than most Indian cuisines so you'll emerge from the food coma after about an hour.